Shake Your Money Maker

If I could list all of the brilliant plans that my friends and I have come up with in the past year, it would astound you. Creating a team of drunks. Beer-bonging while floating down a river in a canoe. Baking cupcakes for deejays. Genius, I tell you. But none have been as profitable as our latest idea. We have created the adult equivalent of having a lemonade stand.

It all started one night in an unknown bar for a birthday celebration of a hardly known person when I found myself in need of a soft pretzel with cheese. I was sitting at a table full of strangers, trying to make new friends when my eye caught sight of the deal of the day. For only $2.75 I could get one and I thought if i could get eleven people to each donate a quarter to my need, then I would be in soft pretzel heaven. Even though I nearly failed economics in college this example of supply and demand was not a hard one to figure out, even after a couple of drinks. Unfortunately, one of my friends was the only donor and I thought maybe it was because we were at the bar and no one had spare change, just credit cards. However, after further investigation I found this not to be true at all. The collecting of quarters is actually a formerly undiscovered hobby that my friends and I have breathed life into.

People don't part with cash very well but loose change, no problem. It's amazing how many people are willing to give up a quarter to a complete stranger without asking any questions. It's also amazing with what ease comes our flippant answer when asked what we're going to use the quarter for. The answer that answers all questions.

Don't worry about it.

We took our coin collecting one step further when manning the door of our bar. By manning the door I mean we posed as the doormen. We dressed up in handmade t-shirts with the doormen names on the back in iron-on letters and checked ID's, asked for quarters. We didn't charge a quarter, we just asked. Ask and you shall receive. The amount of quarters collected so far could rival and probably far exceed any 10-year old lemonade stand's profit. And it can definitely buy enough soft pretzels to satisfy my cravings.

I know you must think, haven't people caught on to your devious plan? Maybe they have but they're not saying anything. I think the question catches them off guard. They say 'yes' and start digging in their pockets, hoping they have a quarter to give our eager beavering souls. And then after we smile sweetly and thank them, they think, what the hell just happened? I know you must also think why would a bunch of 20-something year-old girls panhandle people for twenty-five cents. Don't be jealous. You know you wish you would've thought of it first. Who knows what we'll come up with next.

Stay tuned.